Startling Revelation
by Xehanorto
Summary: Mary has decided to change tactics, the force of which could doom Garry and Ib for all eternity.


**A/N: This is another one of my Ib fics. Now I know I have two on-going titles to be updating, but this should hopefully tide you over until the next chapters of those come out. Now I hope you enjoy this one-shot.**

Ib and Garry had just entered a strange new part of the gallery that looked like it was entirely made of crayon drawings by a kid around Ib's age. It would be cute if it wasn't for a fact that there was a girl painting trying to murder them along with her horde of gallery creatures.

Garry was ready to just make a run for it and leave, but Ib had this disturbing thought in the back of her head. She remembered how shortly after she arrived at the gallery a stickman had asked her to play hide and seek. She had only checked the wrong spot once, but what she found still terrified her, even if she was keeping quiet about it.

She had found a picture of what looked like her being hung upside down, but it couldn't mean anything. After all she had never done anything wrong and had no reason to be hung, but the thought still wouldn't leave her mind. How in the world had someone known about her in the gallery to draw that picture of her.

"Well this is a nice change of pace, nothing trying to chase us or kill us, right Ib?"

Ib barely noticed Garry speak, but she nodded as they kept walking through the sketchbook area until they came upon a singular building colored pink with one door. Garry tried to open the door, but it was shut tight and needed a key. Garry then went to read the notice next to the door, while Ib had become focused by a single image she saw.

Ib felt like she was about to throw up and pass out when she saw a doll that looked exactly like her being hung in the air. Who had made the doll, it couldn't have been Mary, she had never seen her before they met in the gallery and she never had a chance to sneak away. Before Ib could think further on it, she felt Garry shaking her shoulder.

"Ib are you okay, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Ib began pointing at where the doll of her was, but Garry shook his head.

"Ib what do you want me to see?"

Ib was confused, she knew that Garry didn't like those bunnies for some reason, but how did he not see the doll of her. It was in plain sight of them and she was absolutely terrified of it. She wanted to run away, but where could she go. It seemed like all of the doors were locked and if they went back, they'd only run into Mary again.

"Ib, I know it's been bad in here, but we need to hurry and get you home."

"Garry, don't you see it though?"

"See what Ib, all I see is darkness where your pointing to, what's wrong?"

Ib then proceeded to explain to Garry how when she was first alone in the gallery, she had been asked to play hide and seek for a wooden fish head. One of the things she had found was a picture of her being hung upside down. Now she was seeing a doll that looked exactly like her being hung where she was pointing.

"Ib…if it scares you, why don't we keep looking around."

"Alright Garry…"

The two of them began to head away from the room when a blue rope starting to be lowered from the ceiling. There was a small hole at the bottom of the rope that looked like it would close up at any moment. The rope gently landed on the floor not notifying Ib or Garry of its existence, with the blue rope blending in with the darkness of the gallery.

After Ib walked a few steps with Garry her right foot landed in the area where the rope was located. The rope pulled itself up a few inches to be located around Ib's ankle. The rope immediately tightened itself around her, making it visible. Ib immediately felt something grabbing her leg and looked down noticing the rope. She immediately began to pull at the rope trying to get it off, but before she could even get it loosened, she was yanked up into the air, being hung upside down next to the doll of her.

"GARRY!"

As soon as he heard his name being screamed, Garry turned around to see Ib whisked away by a rope to be hung. As he started running after her, he saw the doll Ib was talking about come into view right next to where Ib was being hung now. The doll looked like it had the life sucked out of it, but it had a huge smile on its face.

"Ib…Garry…where are you?"

Garry flinched at the voice, turning around to see Mary holding her palette knife in her right hand. Mary saw Ib struggling to get free from the rope, with little luck as her movements were starting to get slower.

"Oh, I see you two are just hanging about. Ib you really should watch where you step, you might get caught in something."

"Mary, let Ib go!"

Mary shrugged and glared at the doll that immediately began laughing like the other dolls that Garry had seen in the gallery.

"Maybe you should've thought about that before you and Ib both betrayed me. Ib promised me we would get out together and that's what we're going to do."

Ib stopped her struggling and began to stare at Mary with her vision starting to get clouded.

"Mary, your-"

Before Ib could call Mary a crazy person who needed to go away, the doll immediately wrapped its body around her head, to cut off all forms of oxygen. She immediately began to struggle again trying to rip the doll away from her, but due to her face being covered she was just swinging at the air, missing the doll entirely.

"Ib!"

Garry began to try jumping up to Ib to get her down, but he was nowhere near close to reaching her. Meanwhile, Mary had begun to walk towards Garry with rage in her eyes.

"You couldn't just stay with them could you Garry, you made it come to this!"

The doll that was clutched to Ib's face could feel Ib's power waning, the struggling slowly stopping, with blooding having rushed to Ib's head and any form of oxygen cut off. The doll slithered down her face so her eyes would be exposed, for all the good it would do her.

Blood had begun to invade Ib's sight with her only seeing Mary and Garry amongst all of the red that invaded her sight. She felt her body getting cold, but she couldn't do anything to warm it. She felt her mind slowly stopping, but couldn't scream for help or try to fight back.

_Garry…I guess we won't be able…to get…those…macaroons._

Garry watched as Ib stopped struggling and watched as her body started to lose its color, beginning to parallel that of the doll. However, Garry winced when he saw the doll starting to gain the color that Ib was losing, like it was stealing her life. Suddenly red rose petals began to fall from where Ib was hung at, with them landing on Garry. Two of the petals had landed on his shoulders, while the other two landed in his hair.

"Ib, I'm sorry, I failed to protect you."

"Yes you did."

Garry felt something pierce his back and go through his chest, revealing the end of a knife. He immediately collapsed over onto the ground, with his rose falling out of his jacket, with one of the petals withering away, leaving nine left. Mary immediately walked onto of Garry, stepping onto the knife, driving more pain into Garry, to retrieve the rose.

Mary picked up the rose with greed in her eyes and she began to pluck the petals off one by one.

"You were a horrible friend Garry, couldn't even protect a little girl. Don't worry your sweet little head though, Ib isn't going to die."

"But her…petals…"

"Didn't you notice how that doll look alike was getting color while Ib was turning pale? Ib isn't going to die, her life energy is just being moved."

Garry tried to get up to get his rose back from Mary, but at this point he had lost to much energy and could barely tighten his hand into a fist. Mary noticed this and pulled her knife out of Garry and stabbed it into his hand.

"Why…"

"Well, I knew that the real Ib could end up remembering this once we left the gallery, so I decided to make another Ib. Same personality, same memories for the most part. All I wanted was to go to the real world and when I learned Ib had come here, I wanted her for a sister. But you had to poison her mind and turn her against me."

"Mary…she would've…"

Mary immediately kicked him on his side, pulling the second to last petal off of the rose.

"Don't you dare talk about her, you don't know her. Don't worry though, you won't die…well your situation will be similar to Ib's, but much worse. Since you won't be able to do anything once I leave I suppose I'll tell you. You will become a painting; you are my ticket out of here. It's the same reason Ib's life energy has to be moved to the doll."

Garry grunted, feeling the last of his energy being sapped away like it was being pumped out of him into something else.

"Mary…please…take care of…her…"

Mary immediately placed a finger on Garry's mouth to silence him, causing him to blackout with how dead he felt at the moment.

"You really shouldn't have wasted your last moments asking such a stupid question; I was always going to take care of her."

Mary then pulled the last of the blue petals off of Garry's rose leaving an empty stem in its place, with the last of Ib's petals falling onto Garry's corpse. Mary had a huge grin on her face and she began giggling. She was ecstatic that not only was she getting out of here, but that she would also have the best sister ever.

Mary used her powers over the sketchbook area to have the rope containing the former doll down to the ground, gently setting her free by removing the rope from her. She was so full of color that no one would believe that this used to be a lifeless doll if you told them. Ib was knocked out at the moment, but once the energy had a chance to settle chances are she would wake up.

Mary picked Ib up bridal style and walked through the now unlocked pink door and headed down into the gallery. As she was walking she thought about what would happen to Ib, but paid it no mind. No one would ever see the real thing again she imagined, now that she was empty with nothing to grasp onto in reality, she would simply fade into the shadows. At least Ib wouldn't have to suffer the hell Mary had for so long.

The Sketchbook

Garry's body began to stir as the young man awoke from what felt like a sleep that lasted forever. He looked at his hands intently and grasped them making sure this wasn't a dream. He then noticed his stalk laying on the ground with no petals on it.

"Am I…dead…no, I need to get Ib out of here…"

Garry looked into the darkness that was the sketchbook remembering that he had seen a doll of Ib there earlier being hanged. When he looked though, there was nothing there, not even a trace that anything had ever been there. He sighed to himself and felt a pounding at his mind.

_Why have you not gone to sleep like everyone else?_

"What are you talking about; I'm not sleeping till I find Ib."

_Once you have slept, you will find her, you need rest._

"I don't-"

Before Garry could speak, he felt a bomb go off inside his head and he collapsed to the floor in pain. He tried forcing himself up, but couldn't find the energy to do so.

_Will you listen now, you must sleep._

"I suppose, but I can't get up...I need a bed."

_Just sleep, all will be took care of, you are one of us._

"One of…"

Before Garry could process anything else, he passed out on the floor, his head thumping on the ground, his breathing barely going. From behind the pink door, two lines of rope emerged and latched themselves onto his legs. The rope than began to slowly pull him into the gallery, with the Pink Door shutting and locking once Garry was through.

The rope proceeded to pull Garry through the gallery until the distance of the rope between Garry and its origin were about five feet apart. The rope was not being pulled by any person or object; rather it was being directly pulled towards "The Hanged Man" portrait. The piece of art was missing its frame and if one touched it, the painting would ripple like water.

Mary hadn't been lying when she said that Garry would become a painting, she simply never said what kind he would become. If the possibility existed of the real Ib escaping her fate, Garry needed to be permanently silenced. Mary had decided to have Garry take the place of The Hanged Man, a dead man couldn't exactly interfere now could he.

The gallery however knew that it was only his spirit they needed to be concerned about. Besides, the dolls could have fun with his empty husk of a body, the gallery only needed a body to please Mary's desires. So two more ropes emerged from the painting and tied themselves around Garry's hands and the rope began to hold Garry in place like a puppet.

A blue hand began to emerge from the painting and it immediately lunged towards Garry, the hand forcing itself inside his body. As he began to pull his spirit, Garry's body began to violently react, but the rope kept him in place, making his body react as though he was having a heart attack.

After a few seconds of struggling the blue hand turned black and slowly crept from Garry's body. It was still struggling, but when the hand fully emerged with what appeared to be a blue flame in his hand, Garry's body went limp. The hand then quickly retreated with the flame into the painting. The rope then dropped Garry's limp body onto the floor and retreated into the painting as well.

The lights in the gallery flickered momentarily and when light was restored the portrait had been changed. Instead of the old man who had been hung, an image of Garry being hanged by his foot now took its place. Garry's hair had turned pitch black with his eyes having all the life sucked out of them, making them appear diluted.

Inside the painting however, Garry's mind was struggling to break free from the grip of the gallery.

"LET ME OUT!"

_Garry, why do you refuse to sleep?_

"Because I have to protect her!"

_She is already dead as you are. However the cause of her death has left her empty, you still exist as a painting, Ib has been reduced to nothing._

"That's a lie, she's still alive, I can feel it."

_Then you would have seen her when you first woke up in the sketchbook. Her corpse was only a few inches from you, but you saw nothing. _

"Are you…no, you're lying I know you are, I have to find her!"

_Tell us again, what is her name, surely you remember._

"Of course I remember, her name is…her name is…wait do I even know her…"

Garry's mind was becoming more and more black, the flooding of paint and blood invading his thoughts. Everything was becoming more and more diluted and he could not figure out why.

_Sleep Garry, all shall resolve itself if you simply sleep._

"I don't want to sleep; I have no reason to be tired."

_Sleep Hanged Man, sleep._

"But…I…"

All was silent within the portrait, Garry's spirit had been crushed, his mind had retreated in on itself, letting the spirit of the Hanged Man grip his mind and force Garry to accept his fate.

His body on the other was just as empty as Ib's now. While the gallery was tempted to simply hang him with his love, they decided that would be too good for him. The dolls stumbled upon his body soon enough and dragged the empty husk to the sketchbook so they could 'play' with him for all eternity.

Meanwhile Ib was hanging in absolute darkness, no form of light for miles, though she could not see anything even if it were there. Her eyes were now pure red devoid of any life that used to shine in them. Her body was devoid of all color, not a single breath of life remained anywhere, her body limp. Ib was lifeless just like Garry, except he still had a connection, this doll had been tossed aside after playing her part.

It felt like an eternity passed before this shell saw any form of light. Light began to flood the darkness, but the doll didn't react to it. Suddenly a giant hand made its way into the darkness with its hand clutched. The hand began lowering down a rope with a body attached to it. The body was all mangled and torn up like it had been tossed around like a rag doll. The hand hovering above the two bodies took the ropes binding them and tied them together.

The hand then left the darkness and the source of the light was cut off, letting darkness refill the room once again. The doll was staring directly at the new arrival, with the other doll returning the empty stare. These two dolls had been forgotten and would stay in that emptiness together forever.

**Well, that is the end of this one-shot. For those who are confused to what just happened, allow me to explain. The origin of this one-shot was those creepy as fuck Ib Dolls seen in the sketch book. (A lot of my fics seem to be based around these lately.) My thought process going into this is what if Mary decided that there was too big a risk going with her current plan and decided on a new approach seen here.**

**If you could all please review and let me know what you thought of this story, I would much appreciate it. See you next time!**


End file.
